The present invention relates generally to components and more particularly to manufacturing of a component with a passageway.
Traditionally, polymeric parts are made by injection or extrusion molding. In such processes, a heated polymeric liquid is inserted into match metal dies under high pressure, after which the dies are internally cooled in order to cure the manufactured parts. Air is vented from the die cavity when the molten polymer is injected therein. Injection and extrusion molding are ideally suited for high volume production where one hundred thousand or more parts per year are required. These traditional manufacturing processes, however, disadvantageously require very expensive machined steel dies, which are difficult and time consuming to modify if part revisions are desired, and are subject to problematic part-to-part tolerance variations. Such variations are due to molding shrinkage during curing, molding pressure differences, part warpage due to internal voids and external sink marks, and the like. The expense of this traditional die tooling makes lower volume production of polymeric parts prohibitively expensive. These disadvantages are especially apparent for conventional automotive vehicle washer jets where multiple components need to be separately injection molded then assembled together to create the otherwise die-locked internal passageways.
It is further known to make head lamps for automotive vehicles with a light emitting diode (“LED”). It is problematic, however, to cool these very hot lamps. Exemplary traditional devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,812,365 entitled “Heat Dissipation Member, Semiconductor Apparatus and Semiconductor Light Emitting Apparatus” which issued to Murayama on Oct. 12, 2010, 7,855,449 entitled “Cooling Device for a Light-Emitting Semiconductor Device and a Method of Manufacturing such a Cooling Device” which issued to De Graff et al. on Dec. 21, 2010, and 7,235,878 entitled “Direct Cooling of LEDs” which issued to Owen et al. on Jun. 26, 2007. These patents are incorporated by reference herein. Conventional light emitting diode lamps for automotive vehicles require very complicated and expensive constructions including coolant tubes running from a vehicle radiator to each lamp with a six piece lamp housing being machined from aluminum and then assembled together.
It is also known to use stereolithography to produce non-functional polymeric parts (not believed to include washer jets or lamps). Such conventional stereo lithography methods use a laser to create a layered part on a moving platform within a vat of liquid polymer. The part rises from the liquid as it is being made. These parts are extremely slow to produce and impractically brittle.
In accordance with the present invention, a component is provided that includes at least one passageway. In another aspect, a component, such as a lamp or a vehicular washer jet, is made of layers of material, a light curable material and/or multiple built-up materials. Another aspect uses a three-dimensional printing machine to emit material from an ink jet printing head to build up a component including at least one internal and/or fluid-carrying passageway. A further aspect provides a method of making a washer jet and/or lamp by depositing material in layers and/or a built-up additive arrangement. Yet another aspect makes a washer jet and/or lamp by depositing material in an environment where the component is essentially surrounded by a gas, such as air, during the material deposition. A method of making a multi-material and/or pre-assembled washer jet and/or lamp component is also employed in another aspect.
The present automotive components and method are advantageous over traditional devices. For example, the present components and method do not require any unique tooling or dies, thereby saving hundreds of thousands of dollars and many weeks of die manufacturing time. Furthermore, the present method allows for quick and inexpensive design and part revisions from one manufacturing cycle to another. In another aspect, part-to-part tolerance variations are essentially non-existent with the present components and method such that at least ten, and more preferably at least forty, identical washer jets and/or lamps can be produced in a single machine manufacturing cycle. For other aspects of the present components and method, multiple head openings, a stationary support for the built-up components within the machine, and the ambient air manufacturing environment allow for increased manufacturing speed, simpler machinery and ease of access to the manufactured components. It is also noteworthy that one aspect of the present washer jet and/or lamp and method are advantageously capable of creating die-locked part configurations, for example, three dimensionally curved or offset angled internal passageways in a single piece part, that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive, if not impossible, to produce with conventional dies. In other aspects, the present components and method reduce post-manufacturing assembly by creating mating parts in a pre-installed or pre-assembled condition within the same manufacturing machine cycle; for example, this can apply to covers, inserts and/or seals. Materials of different characteristics, such as flexibility, tensile strength, hoop strength, chemical resistance, UV fade resistance, or even color can be deposited to create different sections of the component at essentially the same time. Additional advantages and features of the present invention can be found in the following description and appended claims as well as in the accompanying drawings.